Wood on Words: Do you recall the many meanings of 'recall'?

Barry Wood

Friday

Oct 30, 2009 at 12:01 AMOct 30, 2009 at 12:12 PM

“I don’t recall.” “I do not recall.” “I just don’t recall.” Then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wasn’t the first government official to have severe memory problems, nor was he the last. But he certainly set the bar fairly high in an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee in April 2007.

“I don’t recall.” “I do not recall.” “I just don’t recall.”

Then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wasn’t the first government official to have severe memory problems, nor was he the last. But he certainly set the bar fairly high in an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee in April 2007.

Illinois voters don’t recall, either — yet. But they will be able to if enough of them vote in favor of a November 2010 ballot measure approved this year by the General Assembly.

As you may recall from your civics classes, that kind of “recall” is one of the three “direct democracy” procedures available to voters in some states. The other two are “initiative” (which allows the voters to introduce a law) and “referendum” (in which a proposed law goes before the voters for approval).

Webster’s defines “recall” as “the process of removing, or right to remove, an official from office by popular vote.”

Illinois would become only the 19th state to grant such a right. It could be used to remove governors only. And, of course, the process would be extremely complicated and open to abuse — just like government itself.

As a verb, this form of recall is the fourth of Webster’s five definitions. It’s also usually pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable and giving it the “long e” sound.

The first definition is “to call back or order to return; specifically, to ask purchasers to return (an imperfect or dangerous product), often so that a manufacturing defect can be corrected.” Such recalls happen rather frequently these days.

The third definition is a more general version of this idea: “to take back; cancel; annul; revoke; withdraw.”

So “recall” can be a synonym for “remember.” So can “recollect,” which Gonzales also used a number of times that day: “I have no recollection,” “I don’t have any recollection.”

I don’t mean to be picking on him. I have my share of memory problems, too; but I try to at least write things down when I know they’re important. Of course, I’m not worried about someone
else seeing what I’ve written.

Anyway, “recollect” as a transitive verb has just two, similar definitions: “to call back to mind; recall; remember, especially with some effort” and “to recall to (oneself) something temporarily forgotten.”

Language experts will focus on that phrase “especially with some effort” to insist on shades of difference between “recollect” and “remember.” This distinction is explained by Bryan A. Garner in “Garner’s Modern American Usage”:

“To ‘remember’ is to retrieve what is ready at hand in one’s memory.

“To ‘recollect’ is to find something stored further back in the mind.”

I can relate. I seem to remember certain kinds of things — usually the trivial stuff — better than other kinds — often the really important stuff.

I can’t recall an appropriate example at the moment — I’m sure I wrote it down somewhere.

Contact Barry Wood at bwood@rrstar.com or read his blog at blogs.e-rockford.com/woodonwords/.

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